How The Mind Can Be Like An Untouched Field of Snow...
- A Heart Refined with Rachel Menard
- Jan 16, 2024
- 3 min read
I wrote this blog when it snowed in 2020, but there are some things that God puts on our hearts that just never leave. So, with the beautiful snow we have the privilege of resting in right now, I thought I would dig this one back out. I hope this matters to you today...
As I sit, preparing my scattered mind for the day, I was wondering if it’s possible that the peace of God doesn’t always mean that we are chipper, standing on a mountaintop with the sun on our faces?! Could it be that peace includes melancholy and mourning? Working and waiting? What if we have idolized euphoric happiness so much so that we have misunderstood the value of any of our other emotion…labeling them as disorders and any work they require, a burden?!
I know this is not everyone’s feeling, but I love snow!! I mean I LOVE the white, the cold, and every other thing about it!! I had a very dear friend tell me once that God’s desire is for us to know and trust Him in such a way that our hearts and minds are like an untouched field of snow.
Usually this word picture brings a sweet peace to my whole body, but somehow with this snow, I felt myself looking at this beautiful scenery with an unwelcome sadness in my spirit. Of course, I scrambled to that fix that feeling, but the Holy Spirit kept leading my heart away from me and back to the story of Noah.
He was given the monstrous job of preparing for a massive tragedy. He wasn’t just building a boat for a weekend trip. He was to construct a vessel with very specific instructions, and to gather ALL the mammals and birds…2 each and they had to be clean!! I don’t think we comprehend the magnitude of his job, and that wasn’t all he had to do…
AFTER THAT he had to wait safely while people that he knew were dying in this flood…talk about the personal confusion of faithful obedience and survivors guilt!!
THEN he had to leave the boat and attempt to start a new life. Noah, however, chose to set up an altar. He had to have been exhausted, and even though scripture does not say it, I can’t help but think he had to have been heavy hearted. Still, he choose to live in surrender to God.
As my mind goes back to the landscape, draped in white, with that story in mind, I see it from a different perspective…The snow came with a storm, and with that storm came more than just a beautiful snapshot, but dangerous ice and the requirement of careful movement and tedious waiting.
I wonder if it’s so different to me this time because I am quite literally in a different season of life and I see more than just the pretty picture…I see the ice and quite honestly the extra work and waiting seem overwhelming and unattractive to the shallow side of me. Thank God that there is more to the story than Rachel or even Noah!
If you go on to read the rest of the account of the flood in Genesis 8, you get to experience the beginning of the end of the story…a covenant of mercy that God makes with Noah and all of mankind. This was the promise that was the foreshadowing of the tender coming of our merciful, gracious Savior…the one that came to bear our burden on Calvary, bringing more than a few fleeting “feel goods”, but salvation that would make us able to stand with our faces to the storm…hurting and mourning, working and waiting…giving our lives as an altar…a pleasing aroma for His glory.
Sweet friends, I pray we can hear that the call of our gracious Savior includes beautiful untouched fields and dangerous storms, but because of Him -- BECAUSE JESUS LIVES -- we don’t have to trust seasons or emotions to have true peace and a settled heart. HE is the calm to the storm!
"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you."
Isaiah 26:3
"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
SUPER SIMPLE HEALTHY NUGGET
With the snow comes a need for warm comfort food, BUT you don't have to hurt yourself. Go back to the basics and use this super simple, super healthy, and really tasty recipe for this tomato based vegetable beef soup. It is an even mix of protein, fat, and those healthy carbs that you need to take care of yourself and veg out at the same time! You probably already have this stuff in stock at home! Make a few substitutions if you need to, but definitely try it today!
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